Penguin

On another note, has anyone tried to find the "air superiority blue" listed in the paint scheme for the VF-0D? It's listed as Gunze-Sangyo Mr Color #74, but the colour charts I've seen are missing #74 (and 74 in the acrylic is duck egg green - that ain't right). To use US Federal Standards, the colour is FS35450. Anyone have any luck finding this colour already-mixed?

You're wiser than I. I know I've go no where to put it, but I couldn't resist and picked it up anyway. Luckily, the box it comes in can be reconstructed after the model is built into a case for the finished model. The tail and canopy are removable after completion, and there's even a box for all the ordnance. I'm fairly impressed with it!

Tell me about it! I hate that little $5 "I sat in the customs warehouse fee", on top of the GST. Even so, I got my VF-0D from HLJ, so now it sits in the line, behind my massive Tamiya 1/32 F-16. At least I'll have time to decide which paint scheme I want to use.

Thanks, Stamen. That's pretty much what I figured I'd have to do. I was just wondering whether anyone had found success with other solutions.

I've been noticing some curvature developing in some of my Hasegawa VF-1s - primarily those with the UUM-7 pods (heavy little buggers, ain't they?). It's taken about a year to become noticeable. Has anyone done anything to provide some internal reinforcement for the wings to prevent this? If not, does anyone have any bright ideas?

Heck, I'd settle for a 1/72 fixed-mode (1/48 would be nicer), but I imagine John would run into the same issue he had with the Legios he was working on. Won't Harmony Gold just quash the thing like they did the Legios?

Also from Battletech, the Crusader (armoured VF-1A), phoenix hawk (super VF-1J), wasp (VF-1S), and of course all the "land-air mech" (LAM) versions of the wasp, stinger, and phoenix hawk, which were fully transforming VFs.

Well, as much as I love Alberta's forests and mountains, I gotta admit PEI is one heck of a beautiful province.

Ponoka's a nice little town, while Calgary is a moderate-sized Canadian city/sprawl... more land area than New York City (5000+ square km, to NYC's 800 sq. km), but under a million people. What can I say... we like our space. Now Saskatchewan... THAT'S the middle of nowhere...

Whereas we in Calgary are subjected to the "Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth", the Calgary Stampede, for ten days every July. For someone born in the city, 34 years of it is more than enough. Now all it means to me is that public transit is a real pain for a week. Although, to be fair, we get people from all over the world for Stampede, so you get to meet some really interesting people during that time, assuming you're the outgoing type. However, as it has been said, people who don't get into the whole "western" thing (like me) during that time are treated as being fairly abnormal.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada... an anime fan stuck in cowboy hell

I always figured the air forces (space and otherwise) represented fixed bases, responsible for aerospace defence of colony worlds, space stations, and other more or less permanent installations. The Spacy and the Marines would be responsible for travelling the galaxy and providing rapid response to threats all over UN space.

That rear view always looked to me like it's supposed to be from a close perspective, thus creating the more dramatic curves, while the other views seem more distant with little to no perspective. I'd expect the rear one to be the least accurate in terms of plan view.

I wish Macross Zero had come out a bit earlier. We played a campaign following a squadron from the UN war all the way to 2050 (hitting some major time points along the way), and it would have been cool to include a Macross Zero chapter in-between the UN war and Space War I. Hmmm... maybe there's a retcon to be done here...

I recommend getting the hardcover version of Dream Pod 9's D20 Mecha Compendium. It has the complete D20 Mecha rules and design system (same as the Guardians of Order rules), plus a ton of example mecha and storylines from all sorts of genres. There's even "Space Ranger Ouroboros", which is obviously a Macross-inspired setting. Make sure it's the hardcover version, though. The softcover doesn't have the rules.

Just to put out a dissenting opinion, my gamers and I prefer the post-2045 era. The wealth of background makes for a very vibrant universe, with lots of galaxy for the GM (that would be me) to create all variety of campaigns. We've all seen so much of the VF-1 and the TV-series era that the later stuff is more appealing.

For that to work, you have to make sure the enemies stay in the skies. If the aliens make it to ground, and you haven't got an adequate ground defence, you're pooched.

I couldn't agree more, Sundown. I've seen way too many modellers get carried away. Once you learn a new skill it's nice to show it off, but not to the detriment of the final display. Y'know, even though I've learned how to do it, I still apply them only rarely. I've always preferred cleaner-looking kits. I like accenting the details on landing gear and in the wells, and also along flaps and some of the deeper details, but I prefer not to do all the details.

Definitely the TV series. All I would need for a perfect world is Minmay to sing DYRL in the TV series. As for a live-action film, you'd need someone who would treat it seriously, with a proper budget and real actors. G-Saviour was a nice effort, but suffered from poor acting and lackluster effects. Unless you spend the money, your CG effects just look cheesy. Those are all video games, not anime. Video game adaptations generally suck as a rule (although I will admit to "Resident Evil" and the first "Mortal Kombat" as guilty pleasures). They're basically trying to tell stories where only the thinnest plot existed to carry the game action. At least with Macross, there is a story to start from. Rather than a remake of an existing story, I'd want to see live action used as medium to tell a new Macross story. The animation that exists is already a classic and doesn't need to be messed with.

Gotta admit I prefer the final design too. The spade-like nose is a little odd, but that makes it unique, rather than just a rehash of the SR-71.

Absolutely. When it comes to a game mechanic, it all depends on how many gripes I have with it. If there's only a couple but it's otherwise enjoyable, then I'll use it. If I find that there are so many things I think need fixing that it becomes more of a chore than a joy to play, out the window it goes.

I think they're pretty cool. The Max battroid's in a kind of funky pose, but the Monster destroid is sweet.

My biggest issue with using the D20 system for anything vehicle-based is the mechanic itself. I never liked using any sort of "points" system for recording vehicle damage. Damage systems that record damage as specific to the vehicle mechanics in addition to structural damage always felt more real to me.

Hallelujah! Join the club! I tried that one too. I must say it did work rather well. I much prefer the West End Games rules to the current D20 incarnation. Allow me to confirm those reports. I use Silhouette extensively. Fusion's pretty good too, especially if you want to mix genres. Actually, that's Wizards of the Coast, not Wiz Kids (or were you making a joke? ). Guardians of Order, who make BESM, put the D20 mecha system together, and DP9 joined in as well and now provides dual stats using that system. I wasn't too inspired by it. There's just something about the D20 system and vehicles that sort of seems "oh, by the way, here are some vehicles rules...". It's centred much more on character-scale action. A pox on foul Siembieda for making it so! Thanks to him we have legions of players going forward thinking a VF-1's head lasers are virtually useless and that Oberth-class destroyers are one-man fighters.

When it comes to the fast-paced aerial combat you're referring to, I find that what you want is a fast, simple system without detailed rules for aerial manoeuvres. RPG systems that try to realisitically and accurately simulate real-world actions get so complex that the game slows to a crawl. There was once a combat system called "Phoenix Command" by Leading Edge Games. It modelled real-world combat as closely as possible, dealing with weapon accuracy over range, aim times, weapon penetration, ballistic and impact resistance of armour, etc., etc. A single weapon had about a half page of stats. I tried it once. Every shot my character made took about 5 minutes to resolve. A firefight that took about 10 minutes of game time took us 2 hours to complete. And at that we put "Phoenix Command" on the shelf, and never take it down except to marvel at its complexity. Making combat fun and exciting is where the "art" of being a Game Master comes into play. No game system can create that for you. In the system I use, a pilot makes two rolls: a roll for position against the target to determine the accuracy of the shot, and a roll to hit. An optional third roll may be used to try a special manoeuvre (dog-tail, flanking shot, etc.), but in game terms it's just a roll to get better shot accuracy. So, it could run like this: GM: The bandit in the VF-5000 takes off at top speed. Player: I want to take a shot at him before he gets away. GM: Roll for position. (rattle, rattle, clunk, clunk. Since the VF-5000 is faster than the player's VA-3, the opponent wins) GM: Okay, he rolls higher. You have a -2 shot penalty. Player: I want to get behind him for a rear shot. GM: Okay. Roll again at -3. (rattle, rattle, clunk, clunk... again. Player has higher skill than opponent, so he gets higher.) GM: You beat him. Your accuracy is now +1. Take the shot. (rattle, rattle, etc...) Scintillating, yes? Well, maybe not. When we play, however, it's more like this: GM: The bandit peels out, cutting in his afterburners to pull away from you. He pulls low to the deck, water cutting up from the surface as he screams over the waves. Player: I push the throttle and dive at him to pick up some extra speed. "Kingfisher lead, this is two. Pursuing bandit on vector 212." GM: Colonel Kane's voice squawks back over the squadron frequency, "Go get 'im HUD. Kingfisher three, give him some backup." You roll your VA-3 to intercept the bandit's vector and dive down. He's passing Mach 1 and is starting to pull away as you try to lock him up. (rattle, rattle, clunk, clunk.) GM: The bandit loses some energy pulling off the deck as he loops around, but the 5000's speed is still keeping him ahead of you. It looks like he's decided to engage. It's going to be a tricky shot. Everytime you start a lock, you only get tone for a couple of seconds before he slips away. Player: I wanna nail this jerk. I try to slide in on his six. GM: He's got the more manoeuvrable plane, but you've pulled off miracles before. (rattle, rattle, clunk, clunk.) GM: His plane's fast, but he ain't. You fake him into pulling close to your tail, then use your vector thrust to make a tight barrel roll, shed some speed, and he slides in front of you so sweet you wanna cry. Player: "You're toast, dude." I go for target lock. I'll give him two AMM-1s, just to make sure. (rattle, rattle, etc...) When you've got players that love the genre as much as you, and if you've got the ability to keep the action going and tension tight, then creating that fast-paced atmosphere is easy. If you want hard, try doing something scary. It's really hard to get people freaked out with just your words and their imagination. I've only managed to do it twice, but it was a lot of fun for everyone. As for Palladium... ick ... but that's just my opinion after a couple years of Rifts gaming. (NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK SIGNAL FOR PALLADIUM FANS. I just don't like the system. If you enjoy it... power to you.)